A pumpjack is silhouetted against the setting sun in Oklahoma City on March 22, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Sue Ogrocki
Whitecap Resources Inc., weeks away from closing a $15-billion combination with fellow western Canadian oil and gas producer Veren Inc., has reported a jump in first-quarter profits, revenues and production.
Chief executive Grant Fagerheim told analysts Thursday that “2025 has started off on the right foot, and we expect to have strong performance to continue through the year.”
The Calgary-based company had net income of $162.6 million during the first three months of the year, compared with $59.8 million during the same quarter in 2024. That amounted to 27 cents per diluted share, up from 10 cents a year earlier.
Petroleum and natural gas revenues were $942.2 million versus $868.3 million in the first three months of 2024. Average daily production was just over 179,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day compared with almost 170,000 a year earlier.
The blockbuster deal with Veren announced in March has received Competition Bureau approval, is set to be voted on by shareholders of both companies on May 6 and is on track to close on May 12.
Shortly after that, Whitecap aims to update its 2025 financial and production forecasts, Fagerheim said.
The combined company will continue operating under the Whitecap name and management team. It’s expected to become the seventh-largest Canadian oil company by production, the biggest landholder in the Montney and Duvernay shales in western Alberta and the second-largest oil producer in Saskatchewan.
Under the all-stock transaction, Veren shareholders are to get 1.05 shares of Whitecap for each Veren share they own.
“We are very much looking forward to combining these outstanding assets and teams together to create a leading light oil condensate and natural gas producer focused on improving long-term sustainability and profitability to drive superior returns to our shareholders,” Fagerheim said.
He said Whitecap expects to weather the current weakness in commodity prices, just as it did at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and during the collapse in crude oil prices in 2015 and 2016.
West Texas Intermediate crude prices have been hovering a little above the US$60 a barrel mark in recent weeks. But analysts have said many Canadian oilpatch firms became leaner in past downturns and now have the financial strength to withstand the current doldrums.
For its part, Whitecap expects to be able to fully fund its annual base dividend of 73 cents per share with WTI at or below US$50 a barrel.
“Our strategic priorities as we continue through the current commodity price and market volatility remain unchanged with the focus on balance sheet management and capital discipline,” Fagerheim said.
“Our management team has been through multiple cycles.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX: WCP) (TSX: VRN)
Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press
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